One of Android 2.3.4's main new features, which was officially released to the Nexus S late last week, was video and audio calling in Google Talk. While having this feature on the Nexus S is great for its owners, Android users of other devices were left behind. If there is one thing Android users don't like to do, it's wait, which is why britoso from xda managed to rip out the app from his Nexus S and modify it to be compatible with most devices running Android 2.3.

Unfortunately, because he had to modify the apk, he needed to sign it with a different key, which means you need root to install this version (you won't be able to install it over the original Google Talk app as an update due to mismatched signatures, which means you need to uninstall the original app first, and that's not possible unless you're rooted - Google Talk is a system app).

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

While most people are reporting at least partial successes, some are experiencing installation errors or force closes, so your mileage definitely may vary. Those who install successfully are also split between a fully working app and one that is missing video in one direction - they can see the other person, but that person can't see them. The only way to know for sure is to try it yourself. Don't worry - if you make a backup as per instructions, you can always go back to the original as if nothing happened.

Installation Instructions

  1. Make sure you have a rooted device with write access to /system. You will also need adb, which is part of the Android SDK.
  2. Download Talk_with_AV.zip from our direct mirror or the xda thread (xda registration required).
  3. Unzip it somewhere on your computer.
  4. Connect your device running Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" or above and make sure it shows up in the list by running adb devices.
  5. Execute:
    adb remount
    adb shell mv /system/app/Talk.apk /system/app/Talk.apk1
    adb uninstall com.google.android.talk
    adb push libtalk_jni.so /system/lib/
    adb push Talk2.apk /system/app
  6. You should now have the newest Google Talk installed - go ahead, try it out.

If for some reason you can't write to /system and would like to use a flashable zip instead, it's available in the xda thread as well.

To revert, execute:

adb remount
adb uninstall com.google.android.talk
adb shell mv /system/app/Talk.apk1 /system/app/Talk.apk

Now get to installing! If you post your successes or failures below, please include your Android version, exact ROM you're using, and your device's model.

Source: xda